He was falling, falling and spinning and he couldn't stop, and he was yelling, and he was hurting and something was happening, what was that? A light? He couldn't close his eyes and it was hurting, hurting him and he yelled and cried out in pain.

Silence.

Darkness.

Pain. Feeling. Touch.

Slowly, he started doing a check of what he could feel of himself. He could feel a bit of pain in his legs and arms, and he took that as a good sign. His throat ached, probably from all the screaming he'd done. He had a headache, but even as he thought of it, it was going away. Pain was good. Pain meant he was alive.

He couldn't hear anything, so he risked opening his eyes.

He blinked in surprise at the sight and stood up, looking around him. He was on a plain, with green fields rolling away from him in all directions. There was a soft breeze, and it drew his attention to the fact that he was naked. He started looking around for something to cover himself with. If he was under attack, being naked was not a good thing.

"Oh, I forgot about that," a voice said behind him.

In a second, he was crouched in a dueling position, even if he didn't have a wand and he was using his left hand to save his dignity. The sight that met his eyes made him fall down. No more than ten feet from him stood a boy about his age. A very familiar boy.

He had long, dark hair, and gray eyes. The face was hauntingly familiar, and Harry felt his eyes water. It couldn't be! He was dead/; Harry had seen it! Yet he looked so much like him... Sirius. A younger Sirius, but it was him./

At the moment, the boy was looking at himself in a way similar to Harry, only without the wariness. "I knew that I was forgetting something," he said to himself. "Prongs will get such a pranking when I get back. Lily too. She KNEW about this, I bet. When I get ba-"

His muttering was interrupted by Harry's voice. "Who're you? You can't be! Go away!" he was yelling, backing away from him.

"Harry," Sirius said jovially, a grin splitting his face. "It's /so good to see you!" /

"Erm..." Harry mumbled, not sure how to react. People who are dead don't grin like that. Dead people don't grin at all.

Sirius bounded over to Harry and dropped on the ground next to him. His movements reminded Harry very much of how Padfoot used to move, and a half-smile appeared on his face. It was definitely Sirius, unless he was dreaming, and that still wasn't out of the question.

"I'm sure you want explanations, Harry, but I have to do something first, and you have to be standing for that," Sirius said, standing and hauling Harry to his feet. Before Harry had a chance to say anything, Sirius' arms were around him, hugging him as his Sirius' life depended on it. After a few seconds of consternation, Harry returned the hug.

"I missed you, Sirius," he whispered, shakily.

"I missed you too, kiddo," Sirius answered.

After several more seconds, Sirius said in a perfectly innocent tone of voice, "You know Harry, I wonder what would anybody think if they saw us hugging. I mean, being naked and all." A second later he was on the ground, laughing, while Harry was several feet away from him, glaring.

"You should have seen your face!" Sirius exclaimed. "I never knew you could look like that!"

Several minutes later the two boys were sitting on the soft grassy plain, facing each other. Harry was still a bit awkward about being naked, but since Sirius didn't appear to care, he relaxed.

"Before you start pestering me with questions, you must know that there are a few things that I cannot tell you. I had to agree to that, or I couldn't come here."

Harry nodded. "So this isn't a dream?" has asked with hope in his voice.

Sirius frowned. "It is, and it isn't," he explained. "The dream was used as a portal to get you here, not a very enjoyable experience, I'm told. Once you were here, a portal opened in the- where I was, and I was sent here. This is... nothingness. Or something like that. All I know is that this is the empty space between the different worlds; the dream world, the world of the dead, several worlds that don't have any names anymore, and a bunch of other stuff that nobody should think - or know - about." He stopped for a moment, apparently thinking something over. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about that."

"Well, we, that is, Prongs, Lily and I have been watching over you, and we felt that you needed a bit of guidance, and some help. And since you plan to move from the Dursleys today, we chose this time." He opened his mouth to elaborate, but noticed that Harry was looking at the ground. "Harry?" He was alarmed, thinking that he's said something to upset him, but Harry looked up, and there was a huge grin on his face, even though he had tears in his eyes.

"They're watching over me! You're watching over me!"

Sirius looked confused. "Of course we do, Harry. We love you."

Harry nodded. "I know, it's just... " He hung his head and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Ã thought you'd hate me because you got killed because of me."

"Oh Harry..." With a sad look, Sirius reached over the space between them and lifted Harry's head so he could look into his eyes. "Harry, your parents drive me nuts all the time with all they gushing and talking about you. I'm no better than them. We are so, so very proud of you. Never think that we blame you. Sure, Voldemort killed your parents because he wanted to get to you. But that makes it his fault. I got killed because, well, I was stupid, and got cocky. And it was Bella who killed me, not you."

Harry smiled slightly and nodded. Satisfied that he'd got the point across, Sirius leaned back again.

"So you said you're watching over me? How, exactly?" Harry asked.

"We don't see you like a painting, or a muggle TEEVEE. We just have this knowledge of how you are and what you are doing. It was a bit disconcerting at first, but it's easy to get used to. You've got quite a large fanclub up there, Harry."

"How come you look like this?" Harry asked, not wanting to hear more about his fans. Sirius looked to be about the same age he was, although he was easily recognizable as the Azkaban escapee.

"What, did you expect I'd look like shit?" Sirius said with a grin. "After you die, the appearance you have in the other world is left to you. You're as young as you feel, basically," he continued.

Harry nodded. "You said that this talk was supposed to help me...?"

"Yeah. You don't have a place to stay to stay after escaping from the Dursleys, and for a while we had no idea what to do about it, but then somebody offered a suggestion. And no, I can't tell you who that is. Before I tell you what we had in mind, tell me, what are you planning to do, once you leave the Durlseys'?"

"I thought you knew that," Harry said.

"All we know is that you are planning to leave the Dursleys', and that it will happen today. We don't know anything very certain, Harry. We can watch over you, and know what you are doing, but we're not privy to your thoughts," Sirius explained.

Harry nodded, secretly glad that they couldn't see his thoughts. He wasn't all that eager for everybody to know what he was thinking. Even if they were dead.

"Well, I just want to get as far away from this place as possible. Dudley actually suggested that we go to northern Scotland. We'd have plenty of places there to make a hideout for a couple of months, and figure out what to do next. We can get there by train, we checked. But aside from that no, we have no idea what we're going to do."

Sirius smiled at him. "I have a better suggestion. If you can get to a place with Floo, go to the destination '/Griffin Island'. It's a small island off the coast of Scotland. There is heavy magic defending it. We doubt there are living humans on it, but if there are, they shouldn't give you any trouble. On the island, there is a house that you can settle in."/

Harry thought it over. "It does sound better than hiding in some cave," he said. "But if it's so easy to get there, how will it be safe?"

"That island won't let them in. People who mean harm to those living on the island won't be able to get inside the wards. Besides, nobody even knows about it."

Harry nodded, already thinking about the places with Floo access he could use.

"Harry," Sirius said, urgency tingeing his voice. Harry looked up in alarm to see that Sirius was fading. "Harry, once you get to the island, start studying! You need it!"

"Will I see you again?" Harry called, reaching for the almost-invisible Sirius.

"Hopefully not for many, many decades," Sirius replied.

Harry woke up with a gasp. Judging from the light shining through his window, it was early evening. He was glad he and Dudley had decided to sleep all day today. The night was sure to be tiring, and they needed the energy. He got out of bed and started the last-minute preparations. Everything was already packed, except for one change of clothing, which he dressed in. His trunk now contained his and Dudley's possessions, and a spell had shrunk it to pocket size. He was as ready as he was going to be.

.

After the package of books had arrived, Harry had convinced Dudley to help him look through them for anything that could help break the charm on him; /Finite /didn't work, it had been the first spell he'd cast after being emancipated.

So they had read the books during the day, and Harry practiced the mind-clearing technique he had discovered while stroking Hedwig. The book explained a similar technique, involving a candle, but said that it deepened on each person. With his mind cleared, he could sleep well, with only the occasional nightmare waking him up.

Once they had discovered the charm Dumbledore had used on Dudley - it was a type of ward based on blood, very easy to dispel - they had begun planning their escape.

And now they were ready. All they had to do was wait until nightfall.

.

Dudley took the shining knife from Harry's hand and put the blade against the tip of his finger. He pressed slightly, and the skin broke. Hissing in pain, he stretched his hand and let several drops of blood fall on the threshold of the back door. There was a small flare of magic.

Hesitantly, he took a step forward, and when meeting no resistance, another one. In two steps, he was outside. Harry followed him, grinning at the happy smile on Dudley's round face.

With one last look behind them, the two youngsters melted into the shadows.